In electrostatography, also known as xerography, electrophotographic imaging or electrostatographic imaging, an imaging process includes forming a visible toner image on a support surface (e.g., a sheet of paper). The visible toner image is often transferred from a photoreceptor that contains an electrostatic latent image and is usually fixed or fused onto the support surface using a fuser member to form a permanent image.
In current electrophotographic processes, two major types of fuser outermost materials are used for the fusing technologies. The two major types of materials include fluoroelastomers, for example, VITON® from E.I. DuPont de Nemours, Inc. (Wilmington, Del.), and fluoroplastics, for example, TEFLON® also from E.I. DuPont de Nemours, Inc. (Wilmington, Del.).
VITON® fluoroelastomers are used to provide the fuser members good mechanical flexibility with an ability to absorb shock energy. Also, VITON® fluoroelastomers allow high speed operation with high print quality. VITON® fluoroelastomers have more of a “rubber” property and may be used in conjunction with release agents or fusing oils.
TEFLON® fluoroplastics are widely used for oil-less fusing, i.e., with no fusing oils required during fusing operations. TEFLON® fluoroplastics may include a TEFLON® PFA (perfluoroalkylvinylether copolymer) surface disposed over a conformable silicone layer, which enables rough paper fix and good uniformity. In addition, the TEFLON® PFA surface may provide thermal/chemical resistance for the fuser members. Problems still arise, however, due to insufficient mechanical strength and decreased wear resistance of the TEFLON® materials.
Conventional approaches for solving these problems include adding fillers into the outermost materials of fuser members. Conventional fillers include carbon black, metal oxides, and carbon nanotubes (CNTs). However, other fillers to further improve mechanical properties (e.g., modulus and/or hardness) and wear resistances of the outermost fuser materials are still desirable.
Thus, there is a need to overcome these and other problems of the prior art and to provide a coating composition for an outermost fuser material having fluorinated diamond-containing particles.